Longtime Bears cornerback Charles Tillman is retiring from the NFL after 13 seasons.
Tillman, 35, known for his “Peanut Punch” after forcing 44 career fumbles, spent his first 12 seasons with the Bears and went to two Pro Bowls. He played on three NFC North championship teams, including the one that lost to the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI.
He started 12 games last season with the Carolina Panthers before suffering a season-ending knee injury and missing the team’s run to Super Bowl 50. The Panthers didn’t attempt to re-sign him.
Tillman announced his retirement Monday on Twitter, posting a YouTube video of him knocking things out of people’s hands, including a doughnut his daughter was eating.
A second-round pick in 2003 out of Louisiana-Lafayette, Tillman started 164 games during his career and was named the Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2013.
He set Bears records with nine defensive touchdowns, eight interception returns for touchdowns and 675 yards on interception returns. He had the most interceptions by a cornerback in Bears history with 36 and trailed safeties Gary Fencik (38) and Richie Petitbon (37) overall.
But there was a time when Tillman’s hold on a job with the Bears was tenuous.
“When [Tillman] got hurt a couple of times early [in his career] with Lovie [Smith], Lovie was on the verge of, ‘Let’s move him,’ ” Greg Gabriel, the Bears’ former college scouting director, once said. “And we were like, ‘We can’t move him.’ And he proved Lovie wrong. He became one of Lovie’s guys.”
His time with the Bears came to an end after he suffered two consecutive season-ending injuries to his right triceps.
